Updated at 9:00 p.m. with additional comments on Netbooks at bottom.
In case you missed it, Advanced Micro Devices is passing on Netbooks. At least as Intel and its partners have defined the category.
AMD thinks that ultrathin 13-inch designs such as the MacBook Air address a more viable market than what it calls mininotebooks.
(Credit: Apple)In fact, a lot of the media outlets missed this point completely, insisting that AMD is going to go head-to-head with Intel on Netbook processors--apparently because it satisfies a journalistic boilerplate that AMD must, just must, have a direct response to Intel's Atom.
Just to set the record straight, here's what AMD Chief Executive Dirk Meyer said Thursday: "We're ignoring the Netbook phenomenon--just thinking about PC form factors above that form factor."
I think that is a pretty unambiguous statement. But if that wasn't clear enough, here's what Bahr Mahony, director of notebook product marketing at AMD said: "We're going to offer the Congo and Yukon platforms as an alternative (to processors and chipsets for Netbooks). There are a fair number of people that are not satisfied with the experience they're getting on these mininotebook platforms." (AMD uses the terms Netbook and mininotebook interchangeably.)
(Note that AMD has also said it will not enter the market for mobile Internet devices, or MIDs, another sign that AMD is pursuing a different course than the one Intel has charted with Atom.)
In an effort to underscore his doubts about Netbooks, Mahony added that the dissatisfaction with Netbooks "has been exhibited by the high return rates that have been seen on these mininotebooks" in Europe.
Asus or Acer may have something to say about that, but at the very least, this offers a fresh perspective on this possibly overhyped category.
And AMD spokesman John Taylor said Thursday that AMD is specifically not targeting Netbook designs. That is, those designs with an 8- to 12-inch screen.
AMD's strategy seems solid, in my opinion. Go for a segment that is bigger and better than Netbooks. The ultraportable category (the MacBook Air being the best example) is full of attractive but expensive designs. Why not work with PC makers to offer an ultrathin, ultralight, full-featured 13-inch notebook that is priced a lot less than $1,800? Why not $600 or $700?
In addition to the conventional criticism of Netbooks (small screens, tiny keyboards), an underrated fact is that many users eventually get the feeling that they're stuck with an underpowered laptop.
And being underpowered often hinges on lackluster graphics. In a conversation Thursday with Pat Moorhead, vice president of advanced marketing at AMD, he pointed to the graphics capability of AMD's upcoming Conesus CPU, which will use ATI's RS780M graphics: better graphics and better user experience overall.
The MacBook Air offers probably the best proof of this thinking. Apple (which, if you haven't noticed, doesn't offer a netbook), originally went with Intel's integrated graphics in the Air, but due to customer dissatisfaction with graphics performance, it added Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics to its newest models.
Delivering a more powerful dual-core processor (such as AMD's Conesus) for this segment would also turn some heads and offer a more full-featured experience. Intel will be the first one to tell you that Atom is underpowered for many applications.
Are AMD customers clamoring for Netbooks like Intel customers are? "Frankly, I don't get the same answer when I talk to the customer base," AMD's Meyer said Thursday. Time will tell whether the CEO's strategy is right, but it offers a well-thought-out alternative to the Netbook as we know it.
Additional comments:
As a point of clarification. A Netbook is not a thin notebook. AMD has stated it will pursue the latter market. (Whether this pans out or not is another question. Consumer tastes and time will ultimately dictate the form factor.) Thin notebooks are typically full-featured with relatively large 12-, 13- or 14-inch screens. Netbooks, by contrast, are tiny in size (just visit a Best Buy: Asus Netbooks are almost invisible next to a standard notebook) and use low-power, low-performance Atom processors. The Netbook category now exists because of the stark difference in form factors (and price). And the market has borne this out. The Netbook category is defined, to a large extent, by the Atom processor, which is architecturally very different than the Yukon and Congo platforms that AMD will launch. That's why CEO Meyer and others at AMD are going out of their way to draw a distinction between Netbooks and the type of design that AMD will pursue.
Updated at 3:20 p.m. PST throughout with clarification of Yukon and Congo technologies
An AMD-based Netbook? Maybe, maybe not.
On Thursday at an analyst meeting, AMD disclosed "Yukon" and "Congo"--the names that AMD is giving to its silicon technology, due in 2009, that will target the "ultraportable" market. (The meeting was streamed live from the event.)
AMD is targeting Yukon at ultraportable designs like the Voodoo Envy 133 notebook
(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)The company is being very careful to parse this as a more full-featured ultraportable PC play not a strict Netbook play.
The ideal ultraportable form factor is a MacBook Air-style design: very thin with a 13-inch screen, according to AMD spokesman John Taylor.
In short, AMD is not offering an enthusiastic endorsement of the Netbook market. "The target is the slim form factor with a larger screen. Not a 10- or 11- or 12-inch screen," Taylor said. He quickly added that smaller Netbook-style designs may appear but repeated that this is not the emphasis.
Why? AMD's approach is to deliver "a full PC experience," Taylor said. "That's not what you can say about some of the Netbook-type products on the market today," he said. AMD will do this by tapping into the graphics chip technology from its ATI unit, according to Taylor.
"Customers are not satisfied with the experience on mini-notebooks," said Bahr Mahony, director, notebook product marketing at AMD, speaking during the analyst meeting on Thursday. AMD refers to Netbooks as mini-notebooks. Bahr said data shows that there are high return rates in Europe where many consumers have been snapping up Netbooks.
AMD's goal, therefore, is to offer a "more satisfying" experience on higher-performance laptop designs like the MacBook Air, Mahony said.
The tech specs that AMD is currently disclosing for Yukon/Congo are a sub 25-watt platform (processor and chipset) with single and dual-core options. Currently, its mainstream Turion processors operate at over 30 watts. (Correction: the "sub 25-watt" Yukon/Congo refers to both the processor and chipset.)
AMD also showed a Congo platform
AMD roadmap shows future Conesus and Geneva ultraportable chips
(Credit: AMD)
AMD Congo and Yukon ultraportable platforms
(Credit: AMD)AMD showed an ultraportable dual-core 65-nanometer chip dubbed "Conesus" on its road map. This will fall under the Congo platform umbrella. Huron will have one core and fall under the Yukon platform. After this, a 45-nanometer Geneva chip will debut in 2010. (Correction: Conesus falls under the Congo platform.)
Taylor also offered this thinking: Intel's Netbook strategy is somewhat restrictive in that designs are small, at least under 12 inches and--to date--usually under 10 inches. Without mentioning Intel by name, he said this restriction is to "protect segmentation of your business." In other words, if Intel delivers a chip that addresses larger designs it would cannibalize Intel's more profitable mainstream mobile processor lines.
Advanced Micro Devices on Thursday plans to discuss its strategy for ultraportables, a market where the chipmaker is a self-professed laggard.
Whether AMD targets Netbooks specifically or a different design isn't clear. But the company must contend with the fact that Netbooks have become a market sensation during the last year. The Asus Eee PC demonstrated quickly that there was latent demand for a small, low-cost, lightweight laptop-style computer.
Every major PC maker--with the exception of Sony--followed suit, including Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, and Acer. And Microsoft has made it clear that a version of Windows 7 will be stripped down specifically for Netbooks.
Not a Netbook, but cheap as a Netbook at $299: the eMachines eMD620-5777 uses an AMD Athlon 2650e processor.
(Credit: Best Buy)But AMD is not a player. It has effectively conceded this market to Intel, which virtually owns the Netbook market with its Atom processor.
That may change Thursday at AMD's 2008 financial analyst day. "Tomorrow we will discuss our plans to move into the ultraportable market and deliver new platforms aimed at the key areas driving the bulk of the mobile market expansion," an AMD spokesperson said Wednesday.
Ironically, AMD's Geode--one of its less-conspicuous chips in a large stable of mobile processors--was chosen for the One Laptop per Child XO laptop, which predates the Netbook market and predates Intel's Atom.
AMD's chief executive has addressed this also. "Clearly the so-called Netbook is a new form factor, a new market opportunity and one that we're not participating in right now, today," CEO Dirk Meyer said during the company's third-quarter earnings conference call last month.
"We do have strategies together with our OEMs for pushing our solutions both down into smaller form factors and lowered notebook price points, and we'll detail that next month at the analyst conference," Meyer added at that time.
AMD executives have hinted at Netbook designs via blogs, alluding to the requisite graphics capability (where AMD's ATI graphics unit would contribute), CPU performance, battery life, and even form factors: "Eight to nine hours battery life (which we know really means five to six browsing hours)...weight is a huge factor and at 1.5 to 2 lbs, this seems plenty light enough. Also, the closed height cannot exceed three-quarters of an inch."
But AMD needs to deliver the low-power processors to back up these ideas. AMD does not offer a line of ultra-low voltage dual-core mobile processors like Intel (used in the MacBook Air and Toshiba Portege, for example). One of the few low-power mobile chips its offers is the Sempron 2100+ chip that draws less than 10 watts.
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